Security gets into gear

Security operations in Kilcullen for the drive through of the Queen got into top gear tonight, writes Brian Byrne, with the installation of crowd control barriers and the sealing off of the road from the bridge to the motorway from parking.

From tomorrow morning at around 8.15, drivers trying to access Kilcullen will be stopped at the motorway and only locals will be let through. The church car park will have to be cleared of cars by 9.30am, and no traffic will be allowed along the Curragh-Kilcullen Road or the Kilcullen-Gilltown Road afterwards.

TV news teams will be in town from early in the morning. Bardons Pub is closed until 4pm, but will serve evening food after that.

Council workers took away the flower boxes from the Cross & Passion gates tonight, after KCA members had planted them with flowers and had planned to varnish them in the early morning.

The high profile Garda presence in Kilcullen over recent days has impacted on the pub trade, according to one local publican. "People are afraid to drive in and have a drink," he told the Diary ruefully. "It has been a bit of a disaster, even people who used to come in for one on their way home from work have stopped."

Overall, though, the mood in town is positive, with the feeling that Queen Elizbeth II's visit is good for the country and a lift for morale on all fronts.

And things will get back to normal on Friday ...